An Auckland art gallery is championing the cause of showcasing more South Asian art in the city, emphasizing the importance of telling New Zealand's diverse Asian stories.
Benny Chan, manager of Bergman Gallery, wants more South Asian art to be displayed in the city.
"I think this is quite an important story to tell in Auckland because we have a huge Asian population in the city," Chan says.
However, he recognizes the need to go beyond mere numbers and delve into the rich cultural narratives that South Asian artists bring.
The exhibition 5 Painters features five diverse intergenerational local painters from Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
Bergman Gallery is now hosting a group exhibition titled Five Painters featuring Asian artists Rhea Maheswari and.
In June 2023, Chan curated New Zealand's first group exhibition of contemporary New Zealand Asian art titled A Place to Call Home.
"We wanted to support artists from the minority communities whose works are not normally displayed in other galleries," Chan says.
The widespread positive reaction to A Place to Call Home prompted Chan to invite more Asian artists to his gallery in Auckland.
The latest exhibition at Bergman Gallery features work from five different New Zealand artists.
"The majority of the artists have South Asian heritage," he says.
Rhea Maheswari is a visual artists based in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
Mumbai-born Maheswari is one of them.
"My work is a symbolic representation of experiences from my childhood in India," Maheswari says.
She draws inspiration from 17th- and 18th-century Mughal miniatures, especially their decorative and ornamental elements, as well as their multiple vanishing point perspectives.
"There's always a protagonist in my paintings, and she's like a stylized version of myself - not exactly me but an alter ego of mine," she says.
Maheswari says this protagonist is connected to a tapestry of many different geographies and times.
She is also part of a nascent collective of South Asian artists.
"We are on the verge of becoming a collective," she says. "We don't have a name yet."
Bretaña moved from the Philippines to New Zealand in 2011.
After working in the advertising industry in his country for a few years, Bretaña flew to New Zealand to pursue his dream of becoming a practicing artist.
"I knew I was going to be an artist since I was young," Bretaña says.
Despite having a degree in fine arts from the Philippines, he went back to school in New Zealand to pursue further studies, earning a bachelor's degree and then a master's degree from the University of Auckland's School of Fine Arts.
Louie Bretaña is a Filipino/New Zealand artist based in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
Bretaña's favorite place to explore for his work is the Philippines before colonisation.
"My works look into stories, myths and legends that I heard in my youth and I then translate them into paintings," he says.
"These paintings showcased here represent my interpretation of the black butterflies from the Philippines, believed to embody the spirits of my ancestors."
Bretaña says that before the exhibition, he saw a black butterfly that inspired him to work on his latest paintings.
"I think my parents were telling me that they want to be my next painting, so I made one for my mum and dad."
Non-pakeha challenges
Maheswari and Bretaña are familiar with the challenges of being a South Asian artist in New Zealand.
Maheswari graduated from AUT two years ago, noting that only one other South Asian student attended the art school during her course.
"I think it's just really uncommon for South Asians to enter the creative field," she says.
"I think it's because our family's value financial stability more than anything, and I think that's been kind of drilled into us from the beginning."
Bretaña agrees.
"It's very challenging to be an artist per se and it's even more challenging if you're a non-pakeha South Asian artist in New Zealand," he says.
He also believes there is a lack of Asian buyers of Asian art.
Benny Chan is the gallery manager of Bergman Gallery in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
Chan agrees, pointing to a large gap in the number of Asian curators in the industry.
Both artists notes that private galleries are still far behind when it comes to showcasing Asian artists.
Chan is aware of the problem and wants to change that.
"Asians have been (in New Zealand) since the Victorian times and fought in both World Wars and died for New Zealand," he says. "Still, we are swept under the carpet and labelled as 'other'."
5 Painters features artworks by Roy Good, Gavin Jones, Louie Bretaña, Rhea Maheswari and Llenyd Price. The exhibition is on display at Bergman Gallery in Auckland through 22 December.
